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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Harvest Corn Dolls have been traditional autumn ornaments in England for hundreds of years. Introduce the tradition to your family by making one.

Start with these basics on making your doll. Depending on what they are for : a school project, just for fun, Fall decor. How they look is all up to you and your imagination.

Harvest Corn Doll

What You'll Need:

Cornhusks

Bowl of water

Yarn

Scissors

Permanent marker

Fabric scraps

Step 1: To make your own cornhusk doll, carefully peel the husks off 2 ears of corn.Step 2: Place the husks in a bowl of water, and soak them until they soften.Step 3: Remove them from the water, but allow them to remain damp.Step 4: Start to make your doll by rolling a cornhusk into a ball for the doll's head.Step 5: Layer 4 more cornhusks, and fold them over the head.Step 6: Tie a piece of yarn under the head.Step 7: Layer 2 more cornhusks, and roll them together lengthwise. Slip these under the head to create arms.Step 8: Tie yarn at each end to make hands.Step 9: Tie another piece of yarn under the arms to secure them in place and to make the doll's waist.Step 10: Cut the ends of the husks hanging below the doll's waist to make legs.Step 11: Tie yarn near the bottom of each leg to make feet.Step 12: When the husks are dry, draw a face on the doll using a permanent marker. Be sure the husks are dry -- otherwise the markers might bleed.Step 13: Make hair for your doll with yarn, and glue it on.Step 14: Keep the doll natural in his or her cornhusk clothing, or create a more decorative outfit by cutting out scraps of fabric and gluing them on the doll.

Cornhusk Doll

What You'll Need:

One ear of Indian corn

Yarn

Craft stick or frozen treat stick

Craft glue

Black felt-tip pen

Step 1: Bend the cornhusks on the ear of the Indian corn over the cob.Step 2: Tie a piece of yarn around the husks about 2 inches from the top for the head.Step 3: Tie another piece around the husks at the middle of the cob for the body.Step 4: Insert a craft stick or frozen treat stick through the husks for the arms. Add a dab of glue to hold the arms in place.Step 5: Draw a face on the husks.Step 6: Glue yarn hair on top of the doll's head.

More additions for your corn husk dolls

Color your husks by soaking them in a bowl with water and food coloring for about 30 minutes.

For vibrant browns soak them in coffee or tea.

Food coloring is very simple and can be done by most young children.

Pour water
into a shallow bowl or some pie tins- no measuring necessary, simply consider
leaving enough room for adding husks. Add enough food coloring to make the water
fairly dark; remember it is the soak time that determines the result.

Place your
husks in the color and soak until you are satisfied, bearing in mind the colors
will be lighter after the husks are dry.

To keep your husks in the dye (they
float) consider placing a canned good in a bowl on top of the husks to weight
them down. Small children may enjoy checking the color occasionally and watching
the shades develop.

Bear in mind that with this method, the color choices are
limited, however, you can try mixing them for different hues.

Hang my
husks on the clothes line to dry or you can lay them outside on the grass, a
picnic table, on newspapers, paper towels.

Pipe cleaners are a great way to pose your doll in different positions when inserted inside the husks when making your arms and legs. Also you can slip on through the back for display and/or hanging.

Up-cycle doll clothes to dress up your husk dolls.

Facial Features can be done using glue with: sequins, glitter, colored yarn, buttons.

Hair can be made by cutting colored husks into desired lenth of strips and glue into place.

Corn Husk Flowers

You can keep the corn husk decor crafts flowing by making roses and flowers.

Snip your corn husks into oval shapes with points at either end. For each flower you plan to make, cut four petals 1 inch long by ½ inch wide. Cut 12 additional petals for each flower, lengthening and widening them by ½ inch for each set of four. Separate them into groups by size.

Nip an 8-inch piece of wire for each flower. Roll a 4-inch by 2-inch strip of corn husk into a tight cylinder around the end of each of these pieces of wire.

Secure the cylinder with tightly wrapped 4-inch pieces of wire.

Press down on the top of each cylinder with your thumb to fringe them.

Arrange the four smallest petals around the fringed center for your first flower. Wrap a 4-inch piece of wire around the base of the petals to secure them. Add each layer of petals, staggering them so that your flowers look full. Repeat for each flower.

Wrap green floral tape around the bases of the cornhusk petals under the flower. Cover the entire wire stem with floral tape. Arrange as desired.